New York City Ballet Moves’ Rebecca Krohn and Amar Ramasar in “Dances at a Gathering” at the Vail International Dance FestivalOnline More photos of the company’s V-ail performances photos.denverpost.com/mediacenter

The New York City Ballet, or at least a significant portion of it, is back on the road again.

After all but abandoning national touring a couple of decades or so ago because of escalating costs and daunting logistics, the company has put together a smaller, more easily transportable group of its dancers just for that purpose.

The ensemble, called New York City Ballet Moves, made its debut at the Vail International Dance Festival with three programs beginning Sunday evening — the latest coup for this nationally recognized summer dance series.

Unlike some “Stars of . . . ” ballet troupes, which typically perform little more than pas de deux and small excerpts, Moves has 17 dancers from across the ballet’s ranks, including some of its biggest names — enough to do a range of substantive works.

That was proven in the opening selection Sunday night, a revival of Jerome Robbins’ 1969 classic, “Dances at a Gathering,” which still looks fresh and vital. Set to piano music by Frederic Chopin (handsomely performed by Susan Walters), it evokes a reverie of a summer garden party with festive dance and a hint of romance in the air.

While Robbins inserted some acrobatic moments, his principal emphasis was on refined simplicity — patient movements often no more elaborate than two dancers walking hand in hand or coquettishly copying each other’s steps.

No dancer captured this dreamy sensibility better than soloist Rebecca Krohn, who brought a gentleness and relaxed ease to her performance. She was well matched with principal Amar Ramasar, her most frequent partner.

“Dances at a Gathering” was the highlight of Sunday’s opener and, indeed, of the first two evenings, which paired a program of three historical works from the 1960s through ’80s; with another bringing together three selections from the first decade of the 21st century.

The variety overall was fine, but it was easy to question the inclusion of two works by ballet master-in-chief Peter Martins, who is competent enough as a dance maker but hardly one of the choreographic visionaries of the past half-century.

Ending the first evening was his 1988 homage to Ray Charles, “A Fool For You,” a high-spirited romp in which the dancers could just let loose, with strutting footwork and flirty flips of dresses. Standouts here included principal Tiler Peck, whose sassy style ideally fit this work, and principal Joaquin De Luz, with his athletic showmanship.

Less successful was Martin’s closer Monday night, “Hallelujah Junction,” a 2001 ensemble piece that visually telegraphed the energy and rhythmic variegation of John Adams’ minimalist-tinged music, but had little to say choreographically that went beyond solid, functional craftmanship.

Opening Monday’s 21st-century evening was Christopher Wheeldon’s “Polyphonia,” a 2001 work for eight dancers that has become one of the New York City Ballet’s staples. The work, which shifts from moments of machine-like perpetuum to slow, tightly interwoven partnering, brilliantly captures the music’s compulsiveness and emotional detachment.

A big hit with the audience was Wheeldon’s subsequent piece, “After the Rain,” a gradually unfolding, sculptural duet with carefully etched movements that were strikingly realized by principal Wendy Whelan and soloist Craig Hall.

Colorado was the first to benefit, but the establishment of Moves is good news for dance lovers across the country. The ensemble makes it more likely that, after a long hiatus, they could soon see one of the world’s top ballet companies at an arts center or dance festival near them.